UK’s First Cannabis Pharmacy Opens in London

Called Carun, the pharmacy was set up by Czech entrepreneur Michal Takac, who told the Daily Mail that he started using hemp-based products after an industrial accident seven years ago in which he lost three fingers, underwent several surgeries and was eventually fitted with custom-made prosthetic fingers that function with electromagnetic electrodes.

When synthetic prescription creams did him no good for scarring and pain, he discovered Carun ointment—made from hemp oil in the Czech Republic where the hemp is grown.

“So I worked with the owner of Carun in the Czech Republic to bring the products to the UK,” Takac, now Carun's managing director for the U.K., said.

“The products support the immune system; restore the balance and health of cells as well as possessing anti-inflammatory, antiseptic and antibiotic properties,” he said.

Takac explained that the products use compounds grown from a specially cultivated species of the hemp plant called Carmagnola and said that Carun UK is the only shop in England to use products from this strand of the hemp plant.

While claiming similar skin-healing abilities of other cannabis creams, Takac said Carun ointment is different in that it is made from active cannabis extracts in hemp oil rather than hemp seeds.

“Our extraction technique means we keep 90 per cent of the active ingredient, cannabinoids,” he said.

While these products are already available in some pharmacies and alternative health centers in England, Carun UK is the first official pharmacy to sell products made from the hemp plant, said Takac.

Unfortunately, the THC level in the products is minimal, around 0.3 percent, so they can’t get you high.